Hermione's Pursuit
by kellymuse
Summary: Following Hermione, the day she starts Hogwarts
1. Chapter 1

Hermione sat on her yellow quilt cover, holding her first-year potion book in her grasp. Her eyes whipped across the pages, taking in the different mixtures that she would be practising in Hogwarts with her cauldron that sat idly against the base of her bed.

That morning, her mother had helped her try to tame her wild hair, but no matter how many products they used, it never seemed to relax. So she sat, with what resembled a maine around her small, heart-shaped face with her head in a book, which was her norm.

Although she wasn't trapped in her usual bubble of concentration that she had when she was reading. Instead, the balls of her feet kept lifting uncontrollably making her knees shake.

Today, she thought, I will become an official witch.

Not that she hadn't learned the entire curriculum for that year, because she had. She spent her entire holidays reading and re-reading the books she was provided with, making sure every slice of information was planted in her head.

Although she had tried to catch up with knowledge, she still couldn't reach the level of experience her classmates had. They would all be familiar being in the presence of wizards, all have witnessed magic in everyday life. Not Hermione, she had been living like a human, like a _muggle_.

And it wasn't only her hair she worried about, her teeth, as her father called them, where every dentist dream, but to Hermione, she thought she might as well have been born from a rabbit.

Which, as she read, would have been more respectable that being born from a non-magic family.

There was one boy she often had researched who she thought might be interesting to talk to.

She shut her book after placing in a bookmark and placed it into her new trunk. Then, she skipped over to her desk and switched on the computer sitting on top. Her knees where still shaking, and they were starting to irritate her.

It was fairly fast to set-up, with her father being best friends with a man who works with computers. She opened a search browser called wiznet and typed in his name.

_Harry Potter_.


	2. Chapter 2

She clicked through the pages, each giving a detailed description of the boy who lived. Then, she went onto a site that she has used to gather information from in the last few months, The Daily Prophet.

A new article written by Hermione's least favourite journalist, Rita Skeeter was posted on The Daily Prophet's homepage, so she clicked on it eagerly and ignored the advertisements for Bertie's Box of Every Flavoured Beans.

_A Hero Comes Home _**By Rita Skeeter**

_Yes little wizards, Harry Potter has been seen down Diagon Ally, buying supplies for his first year of Hogwarts! It was over ten years ago that he defeated he who could not be named, without training, so who knows what he's capable of._

_Watch out first years, you may be struggling to keep up with him. He was being accompanied by Hogwarts ground keeper, Hagrid, who revealed to him the world that he was not aware of when he was living with muggle relatives- yes, muggles indeed! Although, no wizard in history has been loved more than little Harry Potter, and today he begins his first day of school._

_The betting polls down at Billingboots have been swarmed this morning with all kinds of wizards placing bets on which house he will be entering (3/1 on Gryffindor)_

_He brought the spark back to the wizarding world, and now, under the watchful eye of none other than Albus Dumbledore, who is getting on with age, he will flourish into one of the best wizards our world will know!_

_Three cheers for Harry Potter. May he sprout into one fine, and good-looking, wizard!_

Hermione clicked the red exit button on the screen. Harry Potter, she thought. How fascinating it would be, so many questions I have for him.

"Hermione!" her mother called and she quickly rose out of the chair and switched off the screen. Mrs. Granger opened the door, a wide smile across her face that reached her ears.

"It's time to go, sweetie." She announced. Hermione nodded with a toothy grin and picked up her cage that held her cat, Crookshanks. He looked more like a ginger furball than anything else. She pressed her lips together when he started licking his tiny paws. Just as long as he doesn't bringing any wildlife, she thought to herself, she had read that there was a large variety in the castle, let alone the woods surrounding the grounds!

"Your fathers starting the car, why don't you grab your trunk, I'll get the... big bowl and I'll see you downstairs" Mrs. Granger smiled. Her parents had seemed thrilled when she received her letter, Hermione was a bit astounded.

"I'm a Witch?" she said in denial "Father, you didn't set this up, did you?" she asked but her father shook his head, making his greying hair shake.

"Mother?" she said, turning to her. She was starring at the letter with large, gleaming eyes.

"Why would I do something like this, Hermione?" Mrs. Granger said. Hermione pulled her bushy eyebrows down that cast a shadow beneath her eyes. Surely this can't be true.

She flipped the letter over in her hands and ran her bitten fingernail over the red wax stamp. It looked real, it was flew in by an owl that now sat perched on the top of her front garden fence, but how, if it really was true, had she not known about it before.

She thought back, thinking when she had ever done something out of the ordinary. She always gotten good grades at her school, surely that was real. She was always a model student and daughter.

Well, except for that time last Christmas when her mother got the wrong volume of the Oxford Dictionary and it only had ten-thousand different words instead of one-hundred thousand. Hermione ate her turkey in silence and as her grandmother went to cut a slice the fire blew up and sent a piece of coal flying, and it landed on the un-opened dictionary and then the sofa caught on fire too.

Her mother didn't know what to do, and Hermione just stared without saying a word. Maybe it had been her fault, she thought.

But as time went on, Hermione's parents started to become resentful. They didn't want Hermione to be away from them for a whole year, a few weeks in-between or not.

"Hunnie," Her mother said to her, "are you coming?" Hermione took a deep breath and followed her mother out of the door and watched as her face and hands turned purple from the weight of her cauldron.


	3. Chapter 3

Hermione twirled her fingers around the piece of string that escaped the hold of her plaited skirt. She watched the familiar green blur of the tree's as they passed her window. When she got there, she had planned to introduce herself to whoever she met first, determined that she wasn't going to be the lone child at the back of the classroom.

Although, she then thought, that would be better for studying purposes, I suppose.

Then there was always the issue of her having muggle parents, but she tried to push that to the back of her mind. They would never know unless she told them.

Not everyone cared about what family you came from though, maybe some students had good enough morals not to judge people on their background. She hoped.

The trees became less frequent as they headed into the city, with Mrs. Granger clinging onto her seatbelt and Mr. Granger staring blankly at the road. Hermione couldn't keep still. Her hands kept finding something to fiddle with, often her hair which she was reluctant to give up on as she patted it to her head.

She had only ever been into London twice in her life. Once for a family friend's wedding and the second time was to get her school things. Although she did like the familiar backdrop of the country, she couldn't help but love the city.

More opportunities to create something of your life. Her mother and father where both dentists. Nothing spectacular. Handy for sure, but nothing remotely interesting.

The children who are going to Hogwarts will have grown up with parents who work in the wizarding world. They'll have jobs Hermione couldn't even dream of, things that shouldn't even be possible. But they did and up until now, Hermione was just another wandering muggle.

They pulled off the motorway and turned into a road that was filled with cars.

"How much longer, mother?" She asked eagerly. Her mother flinched when she spoke, but Hermione was too busy looking out the window with large admiring eyes to notice.

"Twenty minutes, darling" She advised her. Twenty minutes, Hermione thought. The train comes in forty, what if something happens, what if I miss the train. I'll never be able to transform a mouse into a fireworks display, never brew happiness into a bottle, never catch sight on the most exciting landmark that possibly existed, Hogwarts and what if I never become a witch. For the first time in five months, Hermione brought her fingers to her lips, and started biting off her nails all over again.

Her mother and father where too busy to notice, but this was something they detested the most.

Twenty minutes on, and Hermione's nails where as close to non-existent as her oversized teeth could get them. She couldn't hold it in anymore. The car was gliding up to the station at minimal speed and all she wanted to do was to jump out as soon as possible so that she could get on the train with time to spare, and space to breath. Yet her father still insisted on driving well below the maximum driving speed.

Hermione had never disliked her parents before, but at this point, for a millisecond she thought, _stupid muggles,_ and then regretted it instantly because her mother's eyes began to tear up as she realised how close they where to letting her go, and her father caught her hand and held it.


	4. SendOff

Hermione's clammy hands tightened around her trolley, bracing herself for what was to come. Her parents had decided not to come onto the station with her, saying that they wouldn't know what to say if one of the other wizard families struck a conversation with them, they wouldn't know how to respond.

Hermione told them it was fine, but really, she wanted a proper send-off.

She had watched platform nine and ten for five minutes, struggling to work out how to get onto the platform until a slim, blonde boy with a sharp nose and a towering father ran through the brick wall in front of her. She was taken aback by this weird behaviour but shrugged it off. Her parents on the other hand, stood frozen looking shocked.

"Hermione, dear" her mother breathed "Do you really have to go through the-the wall?" Mrs. Granger was shaking, and Mr. Granger looked as if he might faint but pasted on his best fake smile.

Hermione knew for certain that she did so she gave her mother a curt nod before taking a deep breath in.

"Bye mum, dad. See you at Christmas?" she asked, but all she wanted to do now was get on the train.

"Of course you will" Her father replied and Hermione turned back and faced the wall and muttered to herself "here I go" before charging into the wall as fast as her pale legs would go.

Somehow, and she didn't remember how, but she landed on a rather normal station that was labelled Platform Nine and Three-Quarters with gold letters.

Although, many people where dressed in long robes and funny hats, and Hermione knew that she was at the right place. She rolled her trolley up to the train that stood at the platform before trying and failing to push it onto the carriage.

"Need some help?" A voice behind her asked and she twisted to see a tall, brown haired boy that flickered a sudden interest in Hermione. He didn't look strange at all, just like all the boys she used to go to school with, except for he was a few years older. She sighed silently and nodded, showing a gap-tooth smile.

"I'm Oliver" he said, heaving the trolley up, his face taking on a reddish tint "Oliver Wood, I'm a fifth-year, Gryffindor Quidditch captain" Hermione was glad for the research she had done, if not, she would not have known about the four houses, Ravenclaw, Slytherin, Hufflepuff and Gryffindor. Or about Quidditch, for that matter.

"I'm Hermione Granger" She said, in a hushed voice. He was finally able to get her truck loaded before she stepped on.

"Thank-you!" She called to him as he waved and went to sit in another cabin.

Hermione's truck was taken by the Hogwarts Express's staff and she went to take her seat. She found a cabin almost empty, apart from one, rather plump boy with freckle's to spear and a toad in his hand.

"Can I sit here?" She asked and he gave a nervous nod before returning to stare out the window. That's when she saw him, he was unmistakeable.

He was coming out from the wall, carrying a snowy-owl and wearing circular glasses that where tapped together with sellotape. That's him, she thought a toothy grin spreading across her face, that's Harry Potter.


End file.
